HOLYOKE -- The City Council will review the proposed budgets for the Police and Fire departments Monday (June 9) at 5 p.m. at City Hall.

"These two departments are very important from a budget perspective as they are the largest two departments in the city after the schools," council President Kevin A. Jourdain said.

"The police budget has the second highest per capita spending on police in Massachusetts only after Boston. It represents $20 million per yr between the two or 40 percent of all property taxes paid by citizens," he said.

Mayor Alex B. Morse has proposed a police budget of $11,960,066, which is $297,206, or 2.5 percent higher than the police budget of $11,662,860 that began the current fiscal year.

The City Council is within a 45-day period in which it is authorized to review and cut, but not add to, the mayor's proposed budget.

The size of the budget that is approved now, such as whether the council winds up making cuts, determines how much higher the tax bills to home and business owners will be later this year. The City Council sets the new tax rate in December to raise revenue to fund the budget.

Councilors are scheduled to review the police budget at 5 p.m. and the fire budget at 6:30 p.m.

The public safety spending proposals are part of the $125,515,749 budget Morse has submitted to run the city in the next fiscal year. That proposal is 1.5 percent, or $1901,034, higher than the bottom line Morse submitted a year ago for the current year, $123,614,715.